In the 90s the horror genre was dying a slow straight-to-video death until Wes Craven went meta in his postmodern masterpiece “Scream.” He himself set the stage with New Nightmare. “A Nightmare on Elm Street” sequel that was set in our world, where the actors of the original film had to deal with the monster the films created. In “Scream,” the characters knew the rules of horror since they had seen all the same films we had seen, not just the ones in public domain.
40 years earlier, horror was also dying a slow b-movie death and American International Pictures went meta, too. “How to make a Monster” told a story about a chief make-up artist, Dumond, working for AIP. The studio was famous for making cheap genre films, with its most famous member Roger Corman. In the film, the studio has been sold. The new owners don’t want to produce horror films anymore because musicals is what they people want.
Dumond is fired and just has to finish his last film for the studio, “Werewolf Meets Frankenstein.” That isn’t a real film but it is a sequel to two very real films, “I was a Teenage Werewolf” and “I was a Teenage Frankenstein.” The monsters in those films were his creation (in reality, Phillip Scheer created the make-up). Unlike Scheer, Dumond is quite psychotic and uses mind control and drugs to make the actors kill studio executives while in full make-up. Imagine a Robert Englund, in full fledge Freddy costume, killing fat cats after New Line Cinema is sold.
Aside from the postmodernism (which is a big deal since postmodernism wasn’t a thing in films in 1958) the film is quite by the numbers for a late 50s genre film made to be seen in a double feature at the drive through by teenagers. Most of the scenes are two or more men discussing things with a random song is performed in the middle of it. It’s in black and white, except for the last real which is in color.
“I was a Teenage Werewolf,” which came out a year earlier, was the first film that made the teenager be the monster. That theme continues in a way here, although the main monster is the more traditional old “scientist.” The horror scenes, though, are mostly the teenage actors in makeup doing some killings. Sadly, Michael Landon does not reprise his role as the teenage werewolf.
The film could be dissected more, it also has a bit of gay panic in it. “You did something to us, Freddy and I talked it over, we can’t exactly put our fingers on it, but we are saying we want to leave” Larry (the werewolf) exclaims. Both he and Freddy (the Frankenstein) are hunky boys and the vibe ol’ Dumond is quite a bit molesty.
“How to Make a Monster” is a must-see film for horror fans, especially those of us who like the classic stuff. It is full of props and set pieces from other AIP films (like the aliens from “It Conquered the World” and “Invasion of the Saucer Men”) and better than average acting.
